2005-01-19 - 12:23 a.m.
�I�m only prickly on the outside, everything else is soft and fuzzy�
Which comes first, the picture or the entry? Depends on the mood of the day. I try to keep the picture and entry linked in some way or another.
I watched the second half of �Unforgivable Blackness� tonight. It is the Ken Burns biography of Jack Johnson (If it weren�t for PBS, would anything decent ever get made anymore?).
http://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/
I have to admit that I was totally ignorant of the Jack Johnson story. I never saw the film �The Great White Hope� With James Earl Jones as Jack Johnson. (although I plan on renting it as soon as I can.) I�ve always considered myself well versed in the history of this country, this just proves that I have much more to learn.
It was shocking to better understand the palpable tension and outright hatred between the races at the beginning of the 20th century. Not only in the south, where the struggle continues to this day, but that the entire county was shot through with rampant racism.
I naively assumed that a better attitude existed in the northern states before and after the civil war. I�m no northern elitist by the way, I was born in Kansas, into a very racist family. I think my belief stems from the popular and simplistic portrayal of the civil war in US history. North=Good, South=Bad, North=Freedom, South=Slavery ect.
Obviously things are never cut and dry. Racism was as deeply embedded in the North as it was in the south. Quotes from the New York Times about Jack Johnson, written in the 1930�s betray the depth of racial hatred extant in the north.
Altogether it was a fascinating look at our common history.
It�s pretty chilly in here tonight. Our heater is still out and we only keep the bedroom and study warm with space heaters. I didn�t turn the study heater on early enough today so it is struggling to fight off the cold.
I have trouble with my hands anyway. I think it is from years of riding my motorcycle in cold weather. There were several occasions when I come off a long night ride in the cold and wet and not be able to use my hands for a couple of hours. They would be curled up like claws, I�d run them under the hot water until I could feel them tingling again. Anyway I think that I damaged the vascular system because my hands get ice cold very quickly in the winter. My feet too, but I don�t notice them as much.
Anyway, enough for now.
Justus
